Synthetic Oil for Engine Awesomeness!

You've probably seen commercials for synthetic oil on TV. Of course you know commercials never tell the whole story, that's why there's so much of that tiny print at the bottom, top, sides, and if it is a car commercial, pretty much across the whole screen.

There's another problem with these commercials, and that is because in America, Chevron sued to be allowed to tag the "synthetic" name on hydro cracked oils made from crude oil. So now virtually every "synthetic" oil is actually just modified crude oil, and it should be pointed out that the rest of the world do not consider these substances to be synthetic oils. These are classed by the American Petroleum Institute as "Group III" oils, and they are not the ones I'll be talking about.

The oils I will be talking about are shown in the pictures on your screen, these are API Group IV and V oils, true synthetic oils. Group IV oils are produced by making polymers from alkenes, essentially the same as regular oil, but one end of the molecular chain is different. Group V oils are made from acids and alcohols.

The brands I'll discuss are Amsoil and Mobil one, but only the Extended Performance Mobil 1, not the rest because they like most everybody else switched to cheaper to produce Group III base stocks. Amsoil also has a line of Group III oils, but these have significantly less performance than Group IV PAO (polyalphaolefin) oils and they are designed for a specific requirement and market.

I use Amsoil in just about everything, and Mobil EP in everything else. I use their motor oil, grease, oil filters, transmission fluid, chain lube, two stroke oil, bar and chain lube, gear lube, food grade grease, and one day maybe their anti-freeze too. I use Mobil for breaking in lawnmowers or anything that uses alot of oil, like the lawnmower I just gave away.

The reasons why I use these products are several. First, like all my green stuff is money. Amsoil lasts about 25,000 miles in cars with the proper filter, which is also Amsoil because they have the best filter media. This means I can bypass five to eight normal oil changes which saves a significant amount of time and money because I do all our oil changes at home. You might find it interesting that our car with nearly 80,000 miles on it has just had its fifth oil change. A normally oiled car should have had 15 to 30 by now.

The second reason is the crude oil use and waste. Most cars use over a gallon of oil per change and somewhere in the range of five changes per year if someone is taking care of them. Tractor trailer rigs use somewhere in the fifty gallon range, but they don't change theirs as often. For the hundreds of millions of cars all over the US and somewhere in the range of a billion in the world, that adds up to alot of oil that gets used and has to be discarded somehow. Plus that oil has to come from somewhere, and much of it comes from countries that deal in religious oppression and violence. The more I can do to avoid both of those problems the better.

Thirdly, synthetic oil just works better. Lots of people brag about how well their car works and all, but synthetic oils have proven to get better gas mileage which helps the problem above. It keeps engines from wearing out as fast and that means less energy is put into production of new vehicles. For me, the proof is in the clarity. For most of you using regular oil, you'll notice that your oil is black within a thousand miles and is mucky black by the time you change it. At 20,000 miles the oil in our Corolla is still see through though slightly darker than when it was put in. When I change it sometime between there and 25,000 miles, it is still much clearer, and you can easily see light through the stream coming from the drain hole. Another proof is the tail pipe. My push lawn mower still after three years doesn't have the characteristic ring of black soot around the exhaust pipe. And small engines work absolutely wonderfully on synthetic oil, they start MUCH easier, and they idle much better at lower rpm's. When I brought my bees back from Oregon, I had to rebuild the hubs on my trailer. My dad warned me to be careful to check to make sure that the hubs didn't get too hot on the trip. I put synthetic grease in them and was quite surprised and delighted to find that during the whole trip the tires were warmer than the hubs. After my second fill of synthetic oil on my motorcycle, I still have not seen a noticeable hint of darkness in the oil. One downside, it makes it difficult to check the oil sometimes because it's so clean you can't easily tell where it is on the dipstick. That cleanliness translates to less wear in the engine.

And the fourth reason is because I want stuff to last longer. Like I said before, the longer stuff lasts, less energy is required to make new stuff. Metal work is a very energy intensive process, that's why metal plants are almost always located quite close to power plants.

In the end I guess all these things boil down to efficiency. Efficiency is something severely lacking in our society and that needs to be remedied. I do try to convince people from time to time that synthetic oil is better, not that much convincing needs to be done, it's obvious, but most people are just too lazy or cheap to do it. The thing is, it saves so much time and energy, like many things, it just requires an outlay of resources at the onset. It amazes me that people still want to pay so much in finance charges and things so that they can have a lump sum of money now, that's what credit cards are about. It's a huge waste, and I'm against waste.

WiredForStereo

Somebody Stole my Hammock!

I was out surveying the damage from hurricane Gustav today and the first thing I noticed was that I live on an hill in Arkansas, and thus I remembered that our thunderstorms often make Gustav look like getting peed on by a toddler from an overhead balcony. I doubt even a leaf was disturbed from any one of my sensible number of trees.

Secondly, I noticed that my Honduran hammock was missing. It was back in the trees, the only way you could see it was from the driveway of the neighbors who live behind us. I bought that hammock when I was in Honduras on a agricultural mission trip a few months ago. I am supremely bummed out. This marks the second time in as many falls that I have had something stolen, last time it was a quite large watermelon (the one I got to keep was 42 lbs.)

Who is stealing my stuff? And why don't the go for the more expensive stuff like the air compressor or the chainsaw? Who would walk onto my property and steal a freaking hammock for crying out loud. I feel violated. Like somebody sneaked in and put my boxers on their head.

WiredForStereo

Back to my Roots, Sustainable Living.

I took a few minutes to do some introspection last night and realized on a wide variety of fronts that I have stepped away from my personal roots, philosophies, and expertise. I think I’ve become sarcastic and cynical, quick to discount anything that I’d rather not deal with, and honestly, I’m disgusted with myself. Last night, we were talking about politics, and I went off half cocked, and Heidi called me out on it. I admit, I had only woken up a few minutes earlier and was not really in my right mind, however, I believe that it’s the things you do when you aren’t paying attention that shows your true inner content. Anyway, to my friends, I apologize for being a douche, and to my readers, I also apologize, but for ignoring my roots in sustainable living and theological exploration.

So, that being said, I’d like to write about a subject that I have not really explored before and since my trip to Oregon (a medicinal marijuana state) have been thinking about a bit more. I’m gonna write about hemp and cannabis. I’d rather not use the word marijuana, because as you will see later, it was a term used by chemical companies and the media to destroy this a great competitor to the emerging petrochemical industry. The hemp I will refer to is the industrial use of the plant scientifically known as cannabis sativa subspecies sativa. The cannabis I will refer to is the more chemically enhanced variety known as cannabis sativa subspecies indica. The species is highly varied, containing many varieties, ranging on a scale from the industrial used hemp and seed production varieties with virtually no psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) to the more druggy ones with more like 25% THC.

A little history. This is interesting, some researchers have found that hemp and cannabis may have been domesticated before the vast majority of the food crops we have today, the reason? Hemp is a widely useful plant, as food, fuel, fiber for cloth, and of course a recreational drug. But more recently, you might be surprised to find that all those old sailing ships we learned about in history class had hemp rigging and sails, each ship totaling up in the many tens of tons worth. The first printed paper was made of hemp, the Declaration of Independence written on hemp, and the first jeans were actually made of hemp canvas like the sails on those ships I mentioned earlier. The first American paper company used hemp exclusively and was started by Benjamin Franklin, and many of our nation’s fathers grew it on their plantations.

I’d like to make something clear here, I’m not campaigning for the legalization of medical cannabis, though I think it has some use and would serve the public much better regarding criminality if it were legal medicinally. What I want to focus on is the use of hemp, the non THC version, for industrial purposes and in minor ways for food. I am campaigning for the completely legalized and broad adoption of hemp for textile and industrial uses as a sustainable replacement for many items currently provided us by petrochemicals. Many products are made of oil and other inefficient resources that would sustainably be made of hemp such as clothing, paper, rope, plastics and fiber reinforced composites.

For example, if you grow a hectare of hemp for paper, and the same of wood, after twenty years, you’ll have 4 times as much fiber for paper and the best part is you don’t have to wait twenty years to harvest, you can harvest every year and do it sustainably. Also, hemp is a much superior medium for making paper because while wood fibers reach about 2 cm in length, hemp fibers can reach 4.6 meters. Long fiber length equals stronger more quality paper, and hemp paper making requires far fewer chemicals only needing to be bleached with hydrogen peroxide, or not bleached at all.

Hemp vs. cotton is an even bigger issue. Hemp produces 4 times as much fiber as cotton while using 50% of the chemicals that cotton does and having three times the tensile strength. Hemp also grows in a way that naturally eliminates weeds because it is so tall and dense at the top. This is especially significant since cotton is one of the biggest contributors to problems caused by crop production. Hemp can be made into many kinds and grades of cloth from heavy duty canvas (the word actually comes from cannabis) to ultra fine fabrics nearly indistinguishable from silk. Many famous paintings were made by artists painting hemp paint onto hemp canvas.

Hemp can be used for fuel, either the seed oil for biodiesel or the whole plant fermented for ethanol. The kicker is that hemp produces more energy per hectare than corn, sugar cane, or any other crop currently grown for fuel.

So why is it mostly illegal today? If hemp is such a wonderful product, why isn’t it used? And if it was used before, why not now? The answer comes back to big money and industry, the sources of so much destruction and draw away from clean technologies. Back in the 1930’s, William Randolph Hearst, who seems to have had ties to the forest and chemical industries published articles in his papers linking hemp to marijuana and attacking marijuana usage with all sorts of wild eyed stories that we today would think were ridiculous. Stoners today are stereotypically seen as lazy, Hearst’s papers painted them as psychotics. Believe it.

So, in 1937 it was all made illegal though the hemp industry had just begun a rebound as new technologies had sprung up making it far more competitive with then emerging markets. But petrochemicals gave us plastics and nylon, and something people could grow in their backyard was not to be tolerated even though a US Department of Agriculture film called “Hemp for Victory” in 1942 tied our utilization of hemp with winning the war because it was such a useful substance. After the war though, hemp went the way of the electric car.

Fortunately today, hemp is still going the way of the electric car, making a comeback. Hemp clothing is extremely popular and its market share is growing and not just because of stoners, it is being driven by environmental awareness. A quick search will net you tons of websites that sell hemp clothing, in all styles, sizes and colors. The unfortunate thing for the American economy is that hemp is not allowed to be freely grown because it is a relative of marijuana. This puts us in a disadvantageous position because hemp is still a popular substance and virtually all of it must be imported.

Now another question. What is my stance on actually using cannabis? As I’ve mentioned to a number of people, if I get cancer and have to have chemotherapy, I’ll most certainly use it. However, I would never be a recreational user, just as I am not a recreational user of alcohol. I value my clear and unenhanced, unmodified consciousness. It is what makes me who I am, and it is one of the things I value most. I believe I agree with the Bible in this aspect because the Bible prohibits drunkenness, which I’d imagine is quite similar in scope (though not effect) to being stoned. I believe God calls us to be in control of our minds. The Bible says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which I believe accurately refers to the mind as well the physical body. Eating too much food results in a body that is not fit, so too would be the effect of excessive amounts of drugs (alcohol or any other) on the mind. Moreover, we must remember that the Bible never puts any sort of prohibition on the consumption of alcohol, or any other drug, only the over-consumption, of which it is very direct.

In conclusion, for reasons of sustainability and the economy, I believe the use of low THC hemp should be legalized in the United States. And yes, I’m willing to take the abuse and have my friends call me a hippy for what I believe.

WiredForStereo

Interview with an Athiest

I just want to start out by saying that this post is for Micah. He's the only one of my readers who was there and he complains all the time that I don't post enough. Micah, you know who you are.

There were a bunch of us at Encounter and near the end there was an outspoken (read loud) guy who was talking to some people and I got in on the convo. He said that he was an atheist, and was making much of the fact that he was an atheist at a prayer meeting. He invited a bunch of us back to his apartment to hear why he was an atheist, so our interest piqued, we followed carravan style.

What followed is difficult to explain, but after about an hour, I calculated it down to essentially a soft (read "not so harsh") Marxist viewpoint. From what he has seen, he essentially believed that people are Christians (or believe in God) to help them deal with problems. When I questioned him why if it were the case that people would still become believers even though doing so would bring persecution, he changed his story to the viewpoint of the promise of paradise. I found his inability to synthesize these two viewpoints a bit disconcerting. His roommate brought up the existence of "lost gospels" and I was unable to convince them that those arguments had been settled years ago.

What I found more disconcerting, and indeed disgusting was the sheer arrogance he and his roommate exhibited, both during the affair and even more so after most of the people had left. Let's just say he was extremely happy with himself about how smart he sounded. I'm not saying that to be insulting, I'm reporting the facts, he repeated it several times and seemed to be in awe of his abilities. He then explained to us who remained various ways of killing people with a knife (he is a former Marine.)

Anyway, at this point, he's not the kind of person I'd want to be close friends with, but not because he's an atheist. Indeed, I've known far more dishonorable people than he is, he's not a bad guy, I'm just not into the loud arrogant type, it has nothing to do with the atheism. I do value good discussion and debate and so rarely get it. It's just not fun for me to have to wade through and hour of philosophical bullsh*t to get to the point, I want more of a back and forth, give and take.

After most of the younger (16-19) kids had left, he kept asking me if he had challenged their faith, like they'd never heard of atheism before. I assured him that they'd be fine, that those were the more devout kids that I know.

So, after meeting the guy and hearing his whole life philosophy, I was just like "Wow, ok, so that's like...it and stuff?" Not to say that my life is particularly meaningful, or that I know where I'm going and stuff, in life I mean. But the dude is an atheist and goes to church. Like he's gonna get to heaven one day and say "Ha, did you see that, God's a douche, I made it in and all I had to do was go to church!" On the other hand, he knows that if God does exist then he's going to hell, which in itself is like kissing your sister, I mean his philosophy, not the actual hell, that's gotta be way worse. I was reading something for my Death and Dying class today and it basically presented the point of view that you should spend your life doing good things, that way if there is an afterlife or rebirth, you'll probably come out ahead, and if there isn't, well, maybe people will remember you for being a good guy which is something in itself. But even so, what's the point if there is no point?

In the end, I'd say I'm glad I have the meaning in my life that I do. And it's not the mushy buddy Jesus crap either, I gotta get up in 5.5 hours to go to church to set up the stage and sound system for a bunch of whiny musicians of which I am one. I'm here to do what God tells me to do, I didn't invent God to make myself feel better, because if I did, I have obviously been a horrible failure, and so has my god.

WiredForStereo

Burning Trash in the Back Yard

I have some neighbors who burn trash incessantly in their back yard which is of course a mere driveway's width from my back yard. This is a habit passed down from generation to generation of low class people. I don't mean socioeconomically, I mean they simply have no class.

I admit, I was raised with this same habit. Growing up poor and what not, I guess I honestly never knew better, but I do now, and older people do as well. My father abhorred the smell of burnt plastic and thus only burned "the pile" once every year or so. It turns out by some wonderful coincidence that my father now has trash service and thus no longer has need to burn trash, and I have had trash service for a while and so the same. That was a bit different because we have to put up with nasty smoke up to several times a week.

But back to my neighbor. What am I supposed to do about this problem. These are old school Arkansas people, if they know I am unhappy and then receive a citation from the DEQ, well, let's say I fear reprisals. The biggest thing though is that open burning of trash is illegal. Conducting a salvage operation by burning (which in essence they also do) is also illegal. Even if they do get a citation, they have 20 days to fix it before they actually get fined.

So, the hard questions. Am I being a good neighbor by doing this? If I knew my neighbor was guilty of murder, I would report them. This crime is less heinous for sure, but only because the killing process takes a bit longer. I don't want by little boy to suffer permanent or future sickness or death because someone is too cheap to pay for trash service.

WiredForStereo

So Honeybees Right?

While I was in Oregon, I built a trailer to bring back my five remaining hives that were still there, as well as a 1978 Troy Bilt rototiller. I am doing the no-till thing lately, so the tiller will be for preparation, not tilling every year. Anyway, the bees.
Back when I lived in Oregon, before I got the chance to go to college, I was planning on becoming a commercial beekeeper. I was also using the very harshest method of organic beekeeping which I call "Let Live and Let Die." It was essentially a survival of the fittest kind of thing. Some of you are confused right now so let me explain. Over the years, beekeepers in the pursuit of a better bee did a number of unnatural things. They enlarged the size of the bee's cells, making the bees themselves larger, and they used chemical treatments to "cure" diseases. So as new problems arose, mites and other diseases, the bees had lost their genetic advantage regarding their ability to fight disease and pests on their own. It was only a matter of time before the cumulative effect of all these maladies would take their toll as we have seen in Colony Collapse Disorder. My plan while costly in terms of time and bees, is to reawaken the survivor genetics in the bees by letting them fight their diseases with no help. The bees that are strongest in terms of genetics survive while the ones dependent on chemicals die. The plan is to multiply from the survivors so that eventually, all my stock are survivors and in no need of chemical treatment.

Anyway, so I decided to do organic beekeeping, first because I think organic is the way everything should be done, and secondly, organic honey fetches a higher price.

When I moved to Arkansas, I had to leave my bees behind, so they have been in Oregon for three and a half years, in which time my Let Live and Let Die philosophy took its course and yielded five hives from the twenty I started with. So, hopefully, I am left with five really good survivor hives, however now that I have moved them to an entirely different climate, they are no longer acclimated to the region they live in and may suffer further difficulties.

At any rate, I now have six hives here, and hope to make some honey. I have all the equipment I need with me to keep six large healthy hives, and I plan to buy a few queens to start some nucleus hives next spring. For now, I need to get these hives up to snuff for winter. Unfortunately, we had a two week drought while I was gone and all the clover died leaving very little for the bees to forage on. It has been raining every third day or so recently so the clover is beginning to come back and will hopefully start blooming again soon.

Those of you that know me personally, keep your eyes open for some upcoming organic honey for sale.
WiredForStereo